| Do the Means and the Source Matter? A Study on the Actual Usage of Digitally Disseminated Coupons | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 1-15 | |
| Anar Gasimov; Juliana Sutanto; Chuan-Hoo Tan; Chee Wei Phang | |||
| How to effectively distribute coupons digitally to consumers who may
exercise them remains an enduring, yet important, issue to address. In this
study, we seek to answer two questions. First, would the dissemination of
product discount coupons through mobile technology, such as the mobile phone
network via the short-message-service (SMS), yield different effects on
consumers, compared to a more traditional communication technology such as
e-mail? Second, does the source, that is, the merchant or referral from peers,
matter to a consumer? We build on the theoretical lens of cognitive effort
(technology) and social capital (source) to theorize and empirically validate
the conjectures through a real-world field experiment spanning four weeks. In
terms of technology, the results indicate no significant difference in terms of
the usage rate of coupons between the two technological means through which the
coupons were disseminated. However, in terms of the source, we observed a
higher propensity of using coupons received from a peer as compared to coupons
received from a merchant. Furthermore, the forwarding rate of the discount
coupons was significantly higher via e-mail as compared to SMS. Implications
for research and practice are discussed. Keywords: Mobile commerce, product discount coupons, e-mail, SMS | |||
| HCI Research: Future Challenges and Directions | | BIBA | Full-Text | 16-21 | |
| Izak Benbasat | |||
| This commentary reflects my personal views of the future research challenges and directions in human-computer interaction (HCI) research in the field of Management Information Systems (MIS). It may be that many in our community do not share my concerns about the issues I consider important and the challenges we face. My intent here is not to argue that others should pursue approaches similar to mine, or to predict what type of work would be most fruitful and important in the future. Rather, my intent is to share some of the principles and ideas I would like to follow in my future research. I hope that these comments will lead to a debate (in this AIS Transactions) about how our community should plan for the future in HCI research and how we can make it more relevant, interesting and exciting. | |||
| HCI Research: Future Directions that Matter | | BIBA | Full-Text | 22-25 | |
| Kalle Lyytinen | |||
| In this essay, I briefly review the dominant perspective in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research and its underlying research questions as currently pursued in the field of Information Systems (IS). I discuss its strengths and weaknesses and conclude that it is reaching the state of a decreasing rate of returns due to significant changes in computing environments and computer use. Three emerging themes are noted to address this challenge: 1) concern for environmental validity, 2) richer notions of cognition, and 3) growth and access to new sets of data. I suggest that these themes will shape the research in HCI in this decade, and, if addressed properly, will improve the relevance (and rigor) of future research. | |||
| IS Use and Quality of Life: A Conceptualization and Empirical Investigation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 26-54 | |
| Angsana A. Techatassanasoontorn; Arunee Tanvisuth | |||
| The nature of IS use and its impacts in everyday life settings are not yet
well understood. Drawing on quality of life theory and evidence from the IS
acceptance and IS impacts research, this study conceptualizes the relationship
between IS use and quality of life as a process that involves vertical and
horizontal spillover effects. We empirically investigate this relationship in
the context of basic IT use among socio-economically disadvantaged individuals.
The research participants received their initial basic IT skill training from
community technology centers. The context of our study is the Thai community
technology centers supported by Microsoft Unlimited Potential grants. The
results strongly support that there are vertical spillover and horizontal
spillover mechanisms that relate IS use to domain-specific quality of life and
overall quality of life. Implications for research and practice are discussed. Keywords: Social inclusion, quality of life, vertical spillover, horizontal spillover,
IS use, IS impacts, community technology centers | |||
| Moods and Their Relevance to Systems Usage Models within Organizations: An Extended Framework | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 55-72 | |
| Eleanor Loiacono; Soussan Djamasbi | |||
| Traditionally, information systems (IS) usage models have examined user
behavior within a cognitive framework, that is, these models suggest that a
user's cognition influences his/her IS usage behavior. Research over the past
three decades has shown that mood, one's global feeling state at a given time,
can significantly impact a person's cognitive processes. Mood effects on
cognition are particularly relevant to organizational settings. Because moods
are pervasive, they provide a stable context for cognitive processes that
influence behavior at work; therefore, the inclusion of mood in individual IS
usage models that support organizational tasks is both relevant and necessary.
Because positive mood can enhance performance under certain circumstances, mood
management is also relevant to IS usage models. Thus, we highlight how moods
can be managed via IS and propose a model that takes into account users' moods
at the time they work with a system. This model provides an extended framework
for incorporating relevant mood literature into current IS usage behavioral
models. With this model, researchers can examine certain aspects of the model
(such as how IS design can influence user feeling states or how users' moods
can impact their behavior), or conduct more comprehensive research using the
entire model. This model can contribute to theory by providing a more complete
picture of user behavior, and contribute to practice by helping mangers plan
for desired outcomes. Keywords: Mood, Cognition, Usage, Acceptance | |||
| Understanding Blind Users' Web Accessibility and Usability Problems | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 73-94 | |
| Rakesh Babu; Rahul Singh; Jai Ganesh | |||
| Our motivation for this research is the belief that blind users cannot
participate effectively in routine Web-based activities due to the lack of Web
accessibility and usability for non-visual interaction. We take a cognitive,
user-centered, task-oriented approach to develop an understanding of
accessibility and usability problems that blind users face in Web interactions.
This understanding is critically needed to determine accessibility and
usability requirements for non-visual Web interaction. We employ verbal
protocol analysis for an in-depth examination of difficulties participants face
in completing an online assessment through a course management system. We
analyze the problems that hinder accessibility and usability and explain the
nature of these problems in terms of design principles. Our study contributes
an effective method for qualitative evaluation of Web accessibility and
usability. Our findings will guide future research to develop more accessible
and usable Web applications for blind users. Keywords: Accessibility, Usability, Blind User, Verbal Protocol Analysis, Online Task | |||
| Designing Systems that Support the Blogosphere for Deliberative Discourse | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 95-111 | |
| David Schuff; Ozgur Turetken; Asif Zaheeruddin | |||
| Web 2.0 has great potential to serve as a public sphere (Habermas, 1974;
Habermas, 1989) -- a distributed arena of voices where all who want to do so
can participate. A well-functioning public sphere is important for pluralistic
decision-making at many levels, ranging from small organizations to society at
large. In this paper, we analyze the capability of the blogosphere in its
current form to support such a role. This analysis leads to the identification
of the principal issues that prevent the blogosphere from realizing its full
potential as a public sphere. Most significantly, we propose that the sheer
volume of content overwhelms blog readers, forcing them to restrict themselves
to only a small subset of valuable content. This ultimately reduces their level
of informedness. Based on past research on managing discourse, we propose four
design artifacts that would alleviate these issues: a communal repository,
textual clustering, visual cues, and a participation facility for blog users.
We present a prototype system, called FeedWiz, which implements several of
these design artifacts. Based on this initial design, we formulate a research
agenda for the creation of new tools that effectively harness the potential of
the growing body of user-generated content in the blogosphere and beyond. Keywords: Web 2.0, blogosphere, deliberative discourse, text clustering, interface
design | |||
| The Interactive Choice Aid: A New Approach to Supporting Online Consumer Decision Making | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 112-126 | |
| Nils Reisen; Ulrich Hoffrage | |||
| Interactive Choice Aid (ICA) is a decision aid, introduced in this paper,
that systematically assists consumers with online purchase decisions. ICA
integrates aspects from prescriptive decision theory, insights from descriptive
decision research, and practical considerations; thereby combining pre-existing
best practices with novel features. Instead of imposing an objectively ideal
but unnatural decision procedure on the user, ICA assists the natural process
of human decision-making by providing explicit support for the execution of the
user's decision strategies. The application contains an innovative feature for
in-depth comparisons of alternatives through which users' importance ratings
are elicited interactively and in a playful way. The usability and general
acceptance of the choice aid was studied; results show that ICA is a promising
contribution and provides insights that may further improve its usability. Keywords: consumer decision-making, decision aids, online marketing, preferential
choice, e-commerce | |||
| Designing and Engineering for Emergence: A Challenge for HCI Practice and Research | | BIBA | Full-Text | 127-140 | |
| Steven Alter | |||
| This research commentary on Future Directions for HCI Research responds to research commentaries on the same topic by Benbasat (2010) and Lyytinen (2010), and to two articles in Volume 1 of the AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction (Galletta and Zhang, 2009; Zhang et al. 2009). It employs a two-dimensional framework for exploring the scope and challenges of HCI that combines a social/ technical dimension and a behavior dimension that emphasizes differences between engineered and emergent behavior in sociotechnical systems. This framework is used to reflect on possible differences between the scope of a definition of HCI in those articles and the scope of the topics identified in the extensive survey of HCI literature reported by Zhang and colleagues (2009). Implications include the possibility that future HCI research and theorizing may find significant opportunities related to "designing for emergence," or even "engineering for emergence." | |||
| Establishing Best Practices for Scholarly Research Based on the Tenets of Human-Computer Interaction | | BIBA | Full-Text | 141-150 | |
| Michael J. Scialdone | |||
| This commentary will not predict future directions of HCI, or impose a research agenda. Rather, I will reason general advice regarding the four main tenets of HCI in hopes of providing guidance for future research. Mindful that interaction is the ultimate phenomenon of interest to HCI; I assert that scholars should situate their work within the tenets in such a way as to address both design and use/impact (with one or both being emphasized). To assist toward this end, I provide a diagram and accompanying examples from the literature. I also address the importance of design as a component that distinguishes HCI from IS, drawing on more examples from the literature. This commentary is intended to serve academics by providing a clear framework in which to think about and compose their work going forward. I also encourage readers to challenge the model and examples I present here. At the most, this will spark a productive debate about the nature of HCI research in IS; while at the least, it will help the reader solidify an understanding of how to define HCI and conduct appropriate research. | |||
| Developing an Interdisciplinary Area of Economics and Human-Computer Interaction | | BIBA | Full-Text | 151-166 | |
| Heshan Sun | |||
| As an important component of IS research, human-computer interaction (HCI) research in IS has heavily relied on reference disciplines. Economics is less referenced despite the fact that human beings have been strongly driven by economic rules. This paper purports that economics can be of high value to HCI research, providing fresh perspectives for understanding HCI phenomena. Drawing upon concepts and theories in neoclassical economics, behavioral economics, and information economics, this paper examines five important HCI topics from various perspectives from the field of economics. Accordingly, eighteen propositions are developed, demonstrating the usefulness of economics for advancing our understanding of HCI phenomena. While claiming the benefits of referring to economics, this paper also warns HCI researchers of the potential threats of doing so. Opinions are offered about how HCI researchers can refer to economics strategically. | |||
| Theory, Design and Evaluation -- (Don't Just) Pick any Two | | BIBA | Full-Text | 167-177 | |
| Nathan R. Prestopnik | |||
| The following discussion takes to heart Benbasat's (2010) and Lyytinen's (2010) suggestion that design science techniques should be more fully embraced by the HCI community. Design science approaches, which -- in their ideal form -- equally emphasize theory, design, and evaluation through an iterative design/research process (Amiel and Reeves, 2008, Hevner et al., 2004, March and Smith, 1995, Markus et al., 2002, Wang and Hannafin, 2005), offer a comprehensive way to tackle many of the complex and sometimes highly subjective design-oriented research questions that are so familiar within the HCI discipline. In this response paper, three typical, high-quality HCI papers are examined in detail to explore the nature of the "pick any two" problem. Suggestions for how missing methodologies might be incorporated into these works through the design science approach are provided. Additionally, a brief review of HCI literature from three publication venues is conducted in order to roughly identify the extent of the "pick any two" problem. Several broad-based reasons for methodology omission are discussed, with suggestions for ways that these institutional challenges might be circumvented or overcome. | |||
| A Call for Engaging Context in HCI/MIS Research with Examples from the Area of Technology Interruptions | | BIBA | Full-Text | 178-196 | |
| Shamel Addas | |||
| This paper contributes to the discussion on future directions of Human-Computer Interaction in Information Systems (HCI/MIS) research by explicating the role of task- and social context. We show that context has not been sufficiently engaged, and argue why it is important to pay more attention to it in theory and design of future HCI/MIS research. Drawing on examples from the core HCI area of technology interruptions, we formulate a set of general research questions and guidelines, which allow us to represent the context of multiple users in continuous collaboration with multiple tools while working on tasks that are intertwined within business processes. These guidelines will generate new insights for HCI/MIS research and allow us to develop research that captures the changing nature of the computing environment. | |||